My Story Will Last Forever: Kanto
by RamenStarr
Summary: First of the series! Saya at the age of 16 starts her career as a Pokemon trainer with her loyal Gengar. Not your usual OC fic, not starting in Pallet Town, and AU. Rated M for future but not for awhile. Mostly T. OC x Giovanni for pairing.
1. Beginning

**Wanna make this clear, Azure Town is between Fuchsia and Vermillion.**

A cool, overcast day in Azure, on June 25th, at 10:30 AM

Today was the day. Not just because I finally get to leave today, and pretty much every other kid my age as well. Not just because I was finally able to evolve my Haunter, Nocturne at school yesterday and he scared the crap out of my Pokemon Care teacher as a Gengar and didn't get caught. Not even because I battled Ally's Vulpix during the passing exam and won, or even because yesterday was my last day of school ever and I graduated and my guardian was letting me and Daisuke go today.

Well actually it was because my guardian was letting me go and Saya Alani Ogura was freaking hyped and THAT was the point.

What usually would be summer vacation from school, this year is going to be the first few months of my Pokemon journey while all the younger kids would stay home. I was about to embark on the rite of passage almost everyone else my age embarked on, and I swear to God, no matter what, Me and Noct were going to take on the Pokemon league within a year...

My ears perked up when I heard voices outside at the front of the house. An excited grin stretched across my face and hurriedly dashed towards the front porch with my full backpack that had been packed since last night clutched tight in one hand. It felt like I was six years old again, shuffling out the front door with little Nocturne trailing behind on our way to Pokemon trainer's school.

The image was gone when I felt a hand shuffling things around in my back and turned to see Mika, my gaurdian stuffing my favorite orange and black jacket into the largest pocket. "You never know when the weather throws a curveball at you, Saya. You might need this earlier than October. And who knows how long it'll be until you and Daisuke visit home? Do you have your sleeping bag and toothbrush?"

"Yup."

"Three changes of clothes and some camp food?"

"Yup-yup!"

"One thousand pokedollars starting money? And your pokedex? Please, Saya, do not forget your 'dex."

"I got everything!"

"I can't believe you actually remembered it all," my best friend/brother Daisuke laughed as he stood at the steps of our porch. He hoisted his black and red pack over his shoulder, smirking at me. I smirked back and narrowed my blue eyes playfully at him.

"Well," We both turned back to look at Mika. "You two go for it. Don't you guys dare stop halfway through your badges like I did! The League is your dream and I can't wait to see you on TV when you're there! No matter how long it takes you, I know you'll make it." She beamed at the two of us, her eyes brimming with love and pride. She locked her eyes on her son. "When Huttser evolves, you better take a picture of him _right_ away and send it to me, okay? I mean THAT DAY, and not next month."

"I will, mom. I promise." Daisuke assured with a smile. She pulled us both into a crushing hug. She finally let herself cry, and squeezed us one last time before pulling away. "Y-You two should let your partners out of their pokeballs. They ought to be walking with you. When you two walk out of the town, you won't be back for a long time."

' _Way ahead of you._ ' I nodded and reached for the single black and blue pokeball on my belt and tapped it, Daisuke doing the same. It opened, and my Gengar, my companion since my first week living with the Ogura's, materialized. Mika took the ghost Pokemon's hand and kissed it.

"You help protect Saya out there, you tough guy. Show the world how battling is done. It won't always be as easy as practice battles in school." The blue Gengar nodded with a cheshire smirk.

Mika turned and knelt down next to the sitting Growlithe and placed a hand on his head. "You be sure to take care of Daisuke too. Don't overwork yourselves training, please. Saya and I won't be there to remind you two to eat and rest." Huttser smiled up at his trainer's mother and howled softly at her.

Mika stood straight up and choked out, "Go on, before I change my mind and decide to home school you kids for a year!"

Me, Daisuke and our partner Pokemon quickly ran off the porch and pegged it towards the main road. "I LOVE YOU! BE SAFE!" Our mother's shout reaching us from the distance, bringing embarrassed but happy smiles to our faces.

We ran several blocks to the edge of town before finally slowing. I turned to Daisuke with a knot in my stomach, knowing that we were about to part ways as well. His dark eyes met mine, and smiled sadly. "Well, this is where we say goodbye for now, Saya. Did you decide on which gym you want to take on first?"

I gave him a subdued grin and glanced towards Nocturne. "Yeah, me and Noct decided to start at the Poison gym. We should encounter some decent Pokemon on the way to Fuchsia City and can check out the Safari Zone while we're there. Also it'll be super hot out so a trip to the beach sounds amazing too, right bud?"

"Geng!" Noct grinned back at me.

Daisuke shook his head and sighed. "Well I agree with you there, but don't forget to train and take this journey seriously. It's not a vacation, Saya."

I pouted at my brother, while Noct sent him a flat stare. "I know bro, but I'm not gonna miss the chance while I'm there! Don't be a downer." I teased, dropping the pout. "Where are you headed?"

He smiled and ran a rand through his black hair, and ran the other across Huttser's back. "I'm going to go ahead and start at Celadon. I want to stock up on supplies at the super mart there. From there I haven't decided yet if I want to go to Fuchsia or Saffron, though."

I nodded, thinking that it made sense that he would want to go to a gym that he had a type advantage over first. "Well, maybe we'll meet up again soon and can have a battle!"

"Count on it." He agreed and reached his hand out. Immediately knowing his intent, I also put my hand out to do our hand shake. I went to slap his hand but intentionally missed so that it passed over his, then he repeated my gesture, and we ended the shake with a fist bump. We simultaneously turned away from each other and faced the separate roads we would be taking.

"Take care, Fam." Daisuke called over his shoulder and began running away with his Growlithe at his heels. I took a deep breath and shouted, "Later, Bro!" and also started jogging away with my blue Gengar flying next to me.

After about five minutes of running we finally hit Azure City limits and slowed to a walk upon entering Route 14. I reached over and affectionately ran my hand through the ghost's dark materialized spikey fur, Noct doing the same to my blonde spikes. "This is it bud," I said quietly to my other best friend. "Let's do this." He nodded and narrowed his eyes in confidence.

"Geng, gar." We both exchanged wide grins and started down the road before hearing a call.

"Hey, Saya! Wait up!"

We both looked up ahead and saw a fellow graduate come from the surrounding grass and jog towards us. I smiled and waved while calling out my own greeting. "Hey, Becca! You just starting out too?"

She finally reached us and shook her head, and held up a pokeball. "Nope, I left earlier this morning and decided to do some Pokemon hunting before I traveled too far. I already got two new ones!" She said triumphantly.

I looked down at her belt and noticed two other poke balls attached and huffed in envy. "That's awesome! Me and Daisuke just left, so we haven't run into anything yet."

Her eyes lit up like most girls' did when my brother was mentioned. "Oh yeah? Did Daisuke decide to go up through the biker route instead of this one or did I miss him?"

I resisted the urge to roll me eyes at the pining tone her voice now held. My brother was quite the popular one when it came to the ladies. "No, he went the opposite direction. He wanted to take on Celadon gym first."

Her shoulders sagged a bit in disappointment that he wasn't going the same way as her, but soon perked up again. "Oh, that makes sense! His Growlithe will _totally_ destroy the grass gym! Your brother is SO smart!" She let out a happy sigh.

This time I did roll my eyes. "Well, how about we have a battle? A battle to start off our career!"

"GengGAR!" Noct let out victory cry and fist pumped into the air. Becca raised an eyebrow at the display. "You only have your Gengar, right? So a one on one battle?"

I shrugged. "Sure, that sounds good. " I quickly backpedaled a fair enough distance so that I would be a safe distance away. "Ready? Go!"

Becca huffed. "You're so impatient, Saya." She plucked a pokeball off her pink belt and tossed it out. It opened and the white matter materialized into a small Krabby. It frothed at the mouth and waved it's pincers threateningly at Noct. He gave a shark like grin in return.

I tilted my head at her questioningly. "You're using Krabby? Not one of your new ones?" The other girl shook her head. "No, I just caught them and they're kind of weak from battling. Besides, they might not do to well against that terror of yours anyway."

I shrugged, accepting this. We wanted a challenge, anyway. "Alright. Noct, Shadow Claw!"

He didn't need to be told. Noct rushed at Krabby with plasma claws wrapped around his little digits like a gauntlet. In a panicked reflex, the small crab dashed to the side just in time to evade most of the attack, the slashing attack gouging the ground where it stood moments ago.

"Ggghh." Krabby gurgled.

At the same time Becca glared down at my ghost-type all tactical looking and said, "Relax, Krabby. That arrogance will trip him up. Get closer and give him a Bubble Beam." I grinned at her.

Krabby zig zagged up to Noct and barely dodged yet another Shadow Claw. The Bubble Beam attack hit the ominous blue Pokemon in the face and the pressure knocked him flat on his back. Clenching my fist in frustration, I called, "Why so serious, Noct?!"

My Gengar got up and stared unblinkingly at his opponent, cheshire grin stretching to impossible lengths. The phrase, "Why so serious?" was an inside joke between me and Noct after watching the Dark Knight. I teased the ghost that he would have a similar grin to the Joker when he evolved, and it escalated into a battle strategy. We worked for two weeks prior to graduation on the strategy of throwing in a Night Shade attack when the phrase was used in battle.

He crouched slightly, preparing to leap forward. I knew exactly when the time was right and shouted, "Now!"

Noct leaped, and the Krabby was unprepared. His eyes glowed and bolts of dark energy struck Krabby's front. Becca screamed in surprise and jumped back from the attack, following her Krabby's falling back and skidding towards her. He would have his Becca's legs if she hadn't bent down to catch him. Krabby flailed its limbs for just a moment and then jumped back up into a standing position.

"That's my boy! Let's do a rapid fire Bubble Beam!" Krabby obeyed.

Noct danced and phased around the attacks, grin still in place. I grinned with him. We still had our trump card. "Why so serious? Thunderbolt!"

Becca gasped. "What?!"

Once again, the Gengar shot the Night Shade attack off at Krabby, missing, but effectively distracting him from the main attack. "Dodge, Krabby!" Too late.

Noct gathered electricity around his body like a demonic Pikachu, and released an intense bolt of lightning at his opponent, sticking out his large tongue to add insult to injury. The bolt hit the crab head on, and the smoking Krabby went down.

"YES!" I ran up to my partner and threw my arms around him. "You were great, Noct! It went great! You're amazing buddy!"

He returned the hug and puffed up his chest in pride. "Gen, gar?" I rolled my sapphire eyes fondly at his arrogant sounding answer and giggled. I looked up towards the other girl to see her clumsily lifting a cheap potion from her purse. She sprayed Krabby's wounds and watched them sizzle and smooth over before her eyes. She tossed the rest of it to me. "Here, the rest should be enough for Nocturne's wounds from Bubble Beam." I thanked her and urgently sprayed my friend's face and chest.

"So, when did you teach him Thunderbolt?" Becca asked, sounding put off by her defeat. I shrugged. "The night of our graduation, mom gave me and Daisuke a TM each as a gift. We kept them secret from each other though."

"Oh, okay." She nodded. "Well, I'm gonna head back out and train up my new pokemon. And maybe work on Krabby's evasion, too." Becca recalled the unconscious water-type back into it's pokeball before waving to me. "See you!"

She waved and smiled turning back towards the grass. I nodded and smiled back. "Yeah, I think I have a two day hike ahead of me to get to Fuchsia. Bye!" I called and took off running again, Noct right beside me.

June 26th, 9:13 AM, the smothering woods which line the road connecting Route 14 and 15

All day yesterday was spent trying to find a new Pokemon and training. We found some dropped items laying around in between our exploring, including a greatball. I wasn't really interested in any of the more common Pokemon found so far. Some Pidgey, an Oddish here and there, and a family of Venonat were near the clearing that we camped in for the night. Noct gained more experience in using Thunderbolt when fighting near every Pidgey encountered, and loved to scare the hell out of the local grass-types around.

Noct was still out of his pokeball, having not been returned to it since our departure yesterday. Since he spent most of his life out of the capsule ball, he preferred to be

out and about more than not. Currently, he was gliding around above me, peeking into nests in the trees and trying to get a bird's eye view of the area ahead of us. Suddenly, a loud grumble broke through the peacefull, quiet clearing. Noct floated down and peered at me curiously at the noise. I blushed and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Heh, I don't know about you bud, but I'm ready for some breakfast! I'm practically starving where I stand!" I cried out dramatically.

Noct cackled at my silliness, and nodded in agreement. "Geng, gengar gar geng."

The ghost-type flew up above the tree line to search for a public camp site. If there wasn't one near by we'll probably just find a clearing and make our own, but it was always nice to find an area where they could sit at a table and use an actual grill instead of a hand made fire pit with no grill to cook things on. Unfortunately I didn't have enough room in my bag for a portable one.

"Geng! Gar gengar!" Noct flew back down to my level and started towards the direction he saw the camp. I grinned and jogged after him.

"Awesome! I can't wait to stuff my face with some hot dogs and ramen noodles!"

We slowed back down to a walk once we had the picnic area in sight but came to a abrupt stop when something else in the camp. By a trashcan by the edge of it, really. A pink something.

I spotted a creature with huge, spiked ears, and recognized a Nidorino immediately, snuffling around in the trash. My Pokemon Care teacher would have been proud of me. And I was suddenly proud of myself, because I could already see myself catching it. Finally, a uncommon find!

"Sneak up to it, Noct. When you're close enough, use Lick," I murmured over to my ghost-type, who grunted softly in reply and phase into nothingness. While we crept forward I gently put a hand into my pack to search for a ball. I felt one and drew it out: the greatball, awesome! I was close enough to to be in throwing distance now.

It was in that moment that the Nidorino saw me. Its ears pricked up, and it screeched. Noct suddenly phased into a solid being in front of the now startled Nidorino and used Lick and struck the poison-type on its leg, making it step back. It held the leg up as though it couldn't hold weight. It was paralyzed! But that didn't stop him. He growled, and charged.

He was using Horn attack. If a Nidorino's horn pricked me and I didn't get to a hospital in half an hour, I was dead. So many teacher's warned me about it.

"Hurry, hurry! Shadow Claw!" Noct flew in front of me to protect me, and knocked his plasma claws into the incoming horn, causing it to poke pointlessly over the ghost's shoulder.

While it was disoriented from the sudden shift, Noct threw his other hand up in a Sucker Punch; a move he learned last night, and socked him in the face. The Nidorino shook his head and moaned in pain. ' _This is my chance!_ ' I thought. I quickly tossed my greatball and it smacked the poison-type on its back. It made a frightened, even horrified face before warping into white matter inside the ball. It didn't even wobble.

"Yes! Critical capture! We did it!" My Gengar ran over and glomped me, sharing my joy. I pulled away and beamed down at my partner.

"Dude, did you see how awesome that guy battled? Who did he remind you of?" Noct blinked and squinted his eyes in confusion. "Oh, come on, Noct," I huffed. "What's our favorite anime?"

His eyes lit up in recognition and he shot his arms forward in a mock Gum Gum attack. "Geng!"

"That's right, One Piece! I'm totally gonna call him Zoro! Did you see him waving his horn like a sword? I bet his Pokemon friends think he's a total badass. Let's let him out and officially meet our new friend!"

I ran over to the greatball that was still laying on the ground and tapped it. It opened and my new Nidorino formed a few feet away from me. He slowly checked his surroundings before locking his green gaze onto us. I hesitantly walked over to him and knelt down to his level. He peered at me warily.

I smiled at the poison-type. "Hello, there. My name's Saya. It's nice to meet you, Nidorino."

He gazed at me for a few moments before inclining his head. His eyes shifted towards the blue ghost-type hovering over my shoulder, and started to look slightly intimidated. I reached behind me to pat Noct on the head. "This is my other Pokemon, Nocturne. By the way, do you mind if I name you Zoro? I wanna name you after one of the coolest, and most powerful swordsman ever, because, like, you fight so great with that horn, y'know?"

Nidorino was looking up at me with a prideful expression. He nodded. "I'm glad you like it bud." I grinned down at the pink Pokemon.

I fiddled around in my bag until I found one of my cheap potions and sprayed Zoro's face to heal most of the damage. "There ya go, Zoro." I stood up and rubbed my belly.

"Welp, I'm still starving for some breakfast. We saw you looking for food too, Zoro, get in on this!" Zoro let out a happy bark and trotted after me towards the grill, Noct only a few steps behind us.

June 26th, 11:42 AM, Route 15

After breakfast, I had Zoro show me what moves he knew, and it turns out that he had a pretty decent moveset. It also turned out that Zoro was holding a TM that it had found in the trash earlier, and it turned out to be Toxic. Psyched that it was a good move for my two poison-type Pokemon, I went ahead and taught it to both of them. After that, I returned Zoro and also finally returned Noct as well, since he usually prefers to sleep during the day anyway. I walked down the road, still feeling the rush of catching a badass Pokemon, when I saw a trainer up ahead casually counting some pokedollars. A younger boy was walking away with a dejected look on his face.

The long blonde haired girl noticed me and a half-smile grew on her face. "Oh, hey. Are you a trainer? If so, I challenge you. You don't look like much, but hopefully you'll give me more of a challenge than the kid from before."

' _Yeah, hello to you too, chick._ ' I scowled. "I'll have you know, that I'm awesome! I'll totally take you on!"

She scoffed and put her money in her purse, and pulled out a pokeball. "Okay, Miss 'Awesome'," The girl said slowly. "How about two-on-two? You switch when your Pokemon faints, and _only_ then. Sound good?"

"Sounds great." I told her, and immediately found my new Nidorino's ball. I tapped it to make it grow, and tossed it lightly in my hand. "My name's Saya, by the way."

"Mine's Lucy." She smirked, and tossed her pokeball up. I watched as the ball zipped back to Lucy's hand, the white matter from inside slid together to form, a little tan and white bird. "Here's my new baby. Caught him two hours ago."

For a few seconds, I was distracted in watching the Pidgey circle above me, but I shook my head to bring myself back, and tossed Zoro's ball straight out. I gleefully saw the look of slight curiosity and wonder as Zoro's body shape came to be.

The Nidorino lifted his head slightly to look at the opposing girl and sniffed in her direction. I tried to keep from jumping up and down in excitement at getting to battle with my newest Pokemon. "Hey! Hey, Zoro, let's win this, okay?"

The pink Pokemon turned half-around to look at me. "You need to take that pigeon out of the sky. Ram it through like you almost did with Nocturne." Zoro looked up at his new enemy and slowly, slowly, started growling. "Good boy! Now use Poison Sting!"

Thank god I went over his moves earlier! Zoro lowered his body a few inches to the ground and then sprang back up to normal height; as he did so, a tiny purple barb shot from the end of his horn up at the flying Pidgey. The bird swerved and avoided it easily.

"Are you serious?" Lucy laughed. She tossed her long hair, still chuckling. "Okay, Pidgey, Gust!"

"Pidd-geyy!" Pidgey fell into a spiraling dive that was way too fast for me or Zoro to react. The poison-type could only yelp and spring out of the way, but he couldn't manage it when a gust of wind blasted him in the torso. I scowled. Just because the thing could fly, it thought it could be hit. Bullshit.

"Hit it with Toxic." I commanded. As perfectly as a trained guard dog, Zoro spat a glob of purple spit up at the air, not where Pidgey was, but where it would be in three seconds, two, BAM! It was spiraling again, but this time straight to the ground.

"No! No! Pidgey, get up, hurry!" Lucy cried. I didn't give her the chance.

"Hurry, use Horn attack!" Zoro started charging, and as he got closer, he bowed his head. Pidgey wasn't getting up fast enough. The Nidorino's horn punctured its body and it reared its pink head up, hurling Pidgey up like a chef tossing a pizza. The little flying-type fell onto the ground with a little trail of blood marking its path. It panted twice, and didn't move.

Zoro stomped his foot and said powerfully, "Rino."

I smiled and cheered for my poison-type while Lucy returned her Pokemon.

"Okay, that was good," she said grudgingly. "But how about my other baby?" "She pulled out a luxury ball from her purse and tossed it out into the empty road before her. A Meowth appeared. "No more messing around. Cyrus, Fury Swipes!"

The Meowth charged at the Nidorino with surprisingly long claws. It must have surprised Zoro, too, as his eyes went wide and he started frantically blocking the attacker's paws with blows of his horn against the little cat's palms. Cyrus was driving Zoro backwards, but not for long!

"Push him, Zoro!" I shouted. "Poison Sting, now!" In near-perfect sync, Zoro ducked his horn underneath the Meowth's paw and stabbed it into the spot where chest and shoulder met. Cyrus screeched suddenly, but didn't look done yet.

"Feint Attack!" Lucy shouted.

While Zoro drew his horn away, the cat disappeared, and reappeared as a shadow, and went away multiple times, until at last it appeared by my Nidorino's left side and kicked him hard. Zoro rolled over twice and hissed at the pain. "You can do it, Zoro! It's okay. Double Kick!"

Thankfully, the hit had not damaged my Nidorino's spirit. With it's now-usual prideful frown, it lowered its head and charged again. The Meowth made as though to run away or block, but wasn't fast enough. It got a face full of purple feet.

"Cyrus!" Lucy cried. "Cyrus, please get up! Show him what you're made of!" Cyrus got up, and ran straight at Zoro again. "Meet him head-on, Zoro!" The poison-type ran straight at Cyrus, too. They would crash in seconds, heartbeats.

"Fury Swipes!"

"Horn Attack!"

It looked like horn and claw would clash again, but Zoro's horn was faster, or rather, more prepared. He moved his head at the last fraction of a heartbeat, moving its horn out of the way of its enemy's claw and straight at it's enemy's chest. It punctured.

The Meowth's eyes filled with tears, and he cried, "MeeeeOTH!" Cyrus fell backwards holding his paws over a bleeding hole in his little chest, and went unconscious.

I held in a shout of joy and instead threw back my shoulders and sauntered up to my new Nidorino's side. "I knew I picked an awesome name you. You really do use your horn like a freaking sword." Zoro looked up at his trainer smiled one of his rare smiles.

The electronic sound of Meowth being returned to his ball forced them both out of their staring. I couldn't resist adding, "So, how much money do you think that match deserves?" Lucy's furious scowl made me realize that maybe she didn't think that was funny.

"Right. Here," She walked over and shoved the twenty-three pokedollars towards me. "Next time, I'll get past your little sword fighter." She said, started down the way I came from.

I finally let out a grin and drew out Zoro's great ball. "Good job, buddy. Take a rest," The pink Pokemon formed into white matter and flew back into the capsule. I put it back onto my belt and continued through the rest of the route.

'Fuchsia City, here I come.'


	2. Thorny Flower

**AU at the end too.**

 **I don't own Pokemon. Just OC's. Also, fun fact that nobody wanted to know, Nocturne the shiny Gengar is based on my first shiny I caught as a child playing Pokemon Crystal version. That blue Gastly made me the happiest kid on the block! Also named him Nocturne back then because I loved playing Zelda Ocarina of Time. :)**

 **999**

 **June 26th, the archway in front of Fuchsia, 5:31 PM**

 **999**

Both of my Pokemon were sleeping in their pokeballs now, and I was walking under the stone archway gate into Fuchsia City. The gym was here, and I would earn my first badge and then...

Then nothing. _First,_ Pokemon Center, _then,_ more training _and then_ gym. I can't just rush ahead into the gym with fire at my heels. No matter how much I wanted to. I really needed to work on a strategy for taking on other poison-types.

If I remember correctly, my History teacher said that Fuchsia was built around the same time as Azure but it'd had more construction and modernizing than my own town had in recent years. Buildings were taller, or wider, and stores were of larger chains with more spacious lobbies from what I could see by peeking from the sidewalk.

This was the first time I hadn't come to this town for shopping or a rare school field trip, and going through it alone and purposeful made me feel like I was walking through the square of the legendary Goldenrod City across the sea. There were more people on the sidewalks, and bigger, stronger Pokemon walking with them and the central road was crowded with carriages pulled by everything from Ponyta to Rhydon.

No more than two blocks into the town, my peaceful exploration was halted by a Spearow screaming in front of my face. I barely halted the screech that wanted to tear out of my throat. I turned and saw a burly adult man standing with his legs braced. Battle stance.

"Hey, blondie! You up for a battle with Murry?" The Spearow dived off a rooftop, and this time it somehow got a tiny strand of my hair in its mouth as it went by and viciously, painfully pulled, and I reared back to keep my hair from being ripped clear off my scalp. The Spearow hovered around, staring and sneering at me like a sniveling little Raticate and it looked positively disgusting, and infuriating and by God I should pull it's fucking feathers out for attacking a completely innocent stranger on the street.

One slightly shaky lash of my arm had a pokeball ripped off my orange belt and squeezed with maddening control in my left hand. Hopefully, it was Noct's ball and not Zoro's.

"If you teach your Pokemon to attack bystanders in the street, I'd be happy to show you what a real Pokemon can do!" I tossed out my ball and it opened automatically, releasing my grinning blue Gengar. Thank God.

This battle made me remember that through almost my entire trek through Route 15, crossing half a dozen trails and paved roads and trees, I had not seen a single trainer since Lucy. This was much more of a thrill compared to fending off wild Pokemon.

The man paused at the sight of the intimidating, fully-evolved ghost. He shook his head slightly, and swept his hand dramatically through his hair. "Come on! You gotta tell me what brand of hair dye you use if I win!"

"This is my natural color, you prick! _Sucker Punch!"_

Noct dashed forward without missing a beat, but the flying enemy took off too quickly, flying a good two stories in the air and cawing "Speeeearr!" incessantly.

I narrowed my cerulean eyes. It wouldn't be mocking us for long. "Thunderbolt!" Noct jumped up into the air slightly to float closer, and his whole body lit up and then blasted a bolt of electricity almost straight up. This time, Murry was not able to dodge. The sound of the shocking impact nearly covered it's surprised screech. When the electricity faded, there were two tiny trails of smoke from its burnt feathers. Good.

The trainer looked nearly as terrified as Murry, but he wasn't stopping or hesitating as I had hoped. "Murry! Don't let that stop you! Dive down for Pursuit!" The Spearow twitched and then obeyed. It was fast, faster than Noct could dodge, and it's beak struck hard into his shoulder. He was knocked backwards hard and almost slammed into a spectator in a wobbly dance to stay on his feet.

"That's it, keep standing, Noct! Shift your weight forward! _Forward!_ " Dammit, I was losing my focus. I shut my mouth before I could descend into embarrassing yells. My Gengar eventually stood still and didn't take his eyes of the enemy bird. They might be laughing, or frowning. Judging the idiocy and imperfection.

"Straight ahead, bud! Hypnosis, hurry!" Noct's face still drooped painfully, but he clapped his hands once and waved them in a hypnotic motion. For a moment it looked as though some of the people in the street were caught in the waves. Murry screeched and started to fly closer to ground, becoming drowsy from the attack.

"Now, Sucker Punch!"

Hurriedly, the ghost-type phased out and phased back in front of the grounded and barely awake Spearow. Passerby and our growing audience gasped. Noct threw out his fist and bashed it onto the bird's head. Murry fell backwards, unconscious.

"Ha! Take _that!"_ I cheered. Noct turned and flew back towards me, cackling now and practically blinding me with his victorious grin. I stretched out my arms to catch him and didn't even care when 90 pounds of ecto-plasmic fur smacked into me. His ghostly molecules were still slightly shifting about from phasing to and from sight earlier, and tingled slightly.

"Noct, when you win, you win hard! I wish-"

"Hey!" Me and my Pokemon both looked up to see the big man walking towards us with a ten dollar bill in hand. He threw he crumpled thing at my Pokemon's feet and turned to walk away without a word. Noct growled, and narrowed his glowing eyes. A tiny purple bolt of dark energy shot towards him and froze the man in his tracks with a weak Night Shade. A good half dozen of the spectators laughed now. A man with a Rattata on his shoulder even came by to smack my on the shoulder and congratulate me in person, and I thanked him with every ounce of gratitude that tingled within me. All others walked on and left.

I reached down with one hand to get Noct's pokeball. Once he'd been returned, I started on my way again, uninterrupted, and shivering all the way.

 _'One stop at the Pokemon Center,'_ I thought. _'Find the local Pokemart and restock on potions. I have to got the grocery store, and buy some more food and maybe grab a soda. Then let Noct out for awhile and head down to the beach where trainers are likely to be, and battle more, and then swim and plan out a strategy for taking on the leader..."_

 **999**

 **June 26th, 6:11 PM, the waiting room in Fuchsia's Pokemon Center**

 **999**

There was easily room for a Wailord in this room. Certainly the man with a Snorlax suffered no lack of space. The floors were reinforced not just for heavier Pokemon strep through, but treated marble that even steel-types had difficulty scraping through.

And all this space was slightly intimidating. There were quite a lot Pokemon around, thought not many people, and the sheer size of many of them hinted at greater, more accomplished trainers hanging around than I had ever interacted with. A Charizard reclined on a Pokemon couch, there was a Tauros following a middle-aged man across the way, and someone of indeterminate gender chased a massive Arbok towards the bathroom. The nickname he called was quite long. It took ages for me to move past it all and find a freaking bench to sit down while I waited for an available nurse. There was only once I could see, but no, it did have a person there. But, they looked like they were getting their Pokemon back!

Trying and probably failing to look inconspicuous, I jumped and swerved through the crowd to try and make it over the station before anyone else got there. "Hello, welcome to Fuchsia City's Pokemon Center! Would you like me to heal your Pokemon?" the dark pink haired Nurse Joy asked me in a kind voice. Before I could answer, the trainer who had just gotten their Pokemon healed cut in, "Well, _duh._ Why else would they be here?"

Both of our eyes cut over to the brash trainer to see a girl around my age with short pink hair, and was looking at the nurse with a rebellious look in her emerald eyes. "Seriously, Mom, why do you still ask?"

Apparently Nurse Joy's _don't_ just appear out of a cloning machine like I had always secretly suspected. The mother Joy let out a sigh. "Hana, you _know_ that it's our job to ask whether it's obvious or not. _Please_ do not be rude in front of customers."

The teenager rolled her eyes and looked over at me, and I tried to give a sweet smile to appease her annoyed look. It didn't work. "Well, whatever, she looks like a rookie anyway. You might _actually_ have to tell her what we do here."

I let out a growl and bared my teeth at the girl. I wasn't a damn idiot! "For your information, Joy Junior, I haven't lost a battle since I started my trainer career! I may have just started, but I'm not a _moron."_ I hissed at her.

Her eyes flared. "Don't call me Joy Junior! I will _never_ be a nurse! I'm going to defeat Lance and take the title of Kanto Champion!" She suddenly simmered down and smirked, immediately putting me more on edge. "And, _really?_ You must not have been on the road for long if you haven't lost yet."

Her condescending tone made me want to seethe. "I haven't lost yet and I'm not _going_ to lose. The future Champion can't afford to lose."

Hana scoffed. "Now I _know_ you're a novice. And an idiot. Everybody loses now and then. It's life. And admitting that makes you a stronger trainer. Hell, I'm tempted to teach you that lesson myself..."

My eyes narrowed at the challenge. "Any time, anywhe-"

"Please!" Nurse Joy interrupted, her eyes shifted to both of us pleadingly. "Don't have a meaningless fight! Hana!" She set a stern glare on the younger pinkette. "Stop starting fights in my workplace! This is a place of _healing,_ not for having big head brawls!" The girl's green orbs cut down to the floor, looking chastised.

Joy turned back to me. "I'm so sorry about her Miss. Please, don't take her comments to heart. She is frustrated at me, not you."

I took a deep breath and tried to will the anger back down. I gave the older woman a small smile. "It's fine. I shouldn't have let her bait me with the petty insults." I heard Hana muttering something to my right and my hand twitched in irritation. Ignoring her, I handed the nurse my two pokeballs. "Please, heal my Pokemon?"

"Of course." She smiled in relief at the forgiveness and took the balls over to the healing machine. While she was temporarily busy, my smile disappeared and I glared over to the bored looking Hana. "As soon as my Pokemon are healed, you and I are going to the local park and we are going to have a battle to settle this once and for all."

She let out a quiet laugh at my statement. "Oh yeah, rookie? Why should I waste my time on you?"

I gave her a slightly feral grin that would have made Noct proud. Hana's eyes suddenly sharpened and she eyed me more warily.

"Oh? I thought you were gonna teach me a life lesson or some crap like that? Did your brain finally catch up with your mouth and realize that I won't be so easy to beat?" I shrugged, taking my turn at being condescending. "Oh, well. Maybe you shouldn't be so quick to challenge people if you're just going to back out on them."

The other girl suddenly stood ramrod straight and glared ferociously at me. "Fine. You want to get destroyed? Fine. After you're done here, we'll go somewhere to battle. And you will _regret it."_ She hissed at me.

I smirked and was about to retort, when the healing machine bell went off. I gave a genuine smile to the Nurse as she came back and returned my precious Pokemon friends. "Here you go, dear. Good as new! We hope to see you again some day!" She said kindly, giving me a small bow.

I nodded. "You bet. It was nice to meet you." I turned and glanced at Hana before making my way towards the exit. I heard the girl give some excuse to her mother before hurrying after me, joining me on the way to find a battle spot.

 **999**

 **June 26th, 6:30 PM, a residential area in Fuchsia**

 **999**

Once we found a clear area on a grassy hill in the park we silently stood a distance away from each other. I had cooled off a bit on the walk here, and was starting to feel a little apprehensive. Hana looked around my age, so I had foolishly assumed that she was a beginner like me, but looking at her now, she looked like an experienced trainer. Her head was held high and she was throwing a premium ball up and down in her hand, seeming at ease and taut at the same time.

"So, how many Pokemon have you caught so far?" She called across the field.

My blue orbs shot to her black belt and saw to my relief that she only had two Pokemon on her as well. "I have two," I called back, squinting my eyes against the evening sun that was glaring at me. I should have picked the other side, so my back was facing the bright rays.

"I see you only have two as well. How about an all-or-nothing match? No substitutions."

Hana thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "Alright, Rookie. Sounds good." She tapped the white ball to enlarge it. I reached down to my own belt and unclasped Zoro's great ball.

"My name's not rookie. It's Saya Alani." I called out, holding the great ball in front of me.

The other girl finally showed off a small smile. "Alright, Saya. I'm not 'Joy Junior'. I'm Hana Joy." And with that, she chucked the ball straight up and it broke open and released a Ponyta.

I took a deep breath and also threw my pokeball straight up, revealing my Nidorino. He snorted at the opposing Ponyta. Not giving her time to make the first move, I cried, "Zoro, Poison Sting!"

Zoro reared his head and poisonous barbs shot from his long horn at the startled fire-type. It's flaming mane sputtered and its jaw clenched when it connected. Suddenly it's cheeks took on a purple hue. I jumped excitedly at the sight. "Yeah! Poisoned!" It was only a matter of time now.

"Gem! Fight it girl, shake it off and focus!" The pinkette cried out towards the sluggish pony.

I smirked. "Double Kick!" The prideful poison-type charged towards his opponent. Suddenly, Hana commanded, "Stomp!" and the Ponyta shook it's head and cracked my unsuspecting Nidorino across the head with it's hoof in a heavy Stomp attack. I almost ran over towards my newest friend but stopped myself. He'll be okay.

"Zoro! Are you okay?!" He shook his head around, as if trying to clear it. I saw the Ponyta rearing back for another hit. "Horn Attack! Hurry!" Almost at the last second, the pink Pokemon thrust his horn forward and into the horse's exposed belly. It struck, and left a bleeding hole in her underside. She bayed in pain and distress, landing back on all fours and backed up a bit.

"It's okay, girl! Retaliate with Ember! Aim for it's ugly mug!" Gem let out a harried nay, and twisted its fiery mane at my Nidorino, and to my dismay, he wasn't able to dodge completely.

"No! Zoro! Speak to me, buddy!"

All I heard was a weak "Rinoooo..." while he tried to rub his poor abused head against his front leg, as if trying to wipe away the pain.

"Don't let it recover! Finish it with Flame Wheel!" Hana hollered gleefully.

The Ponyta channeled fire to spiral around itself, and with a toss of it's head, sent the flaming inferno speeding towards my poison-type. I could only watch in horror, as my cries for him to pay attention and move away were unheard as the flames connected with him. I had to shield my face from the heat of the attack.

When I looked back, I was saddened to see my proud Pokemon barely conscious, before finally closing his eyes in defeat. I frowned and returned him to his pokeball, half listening as Hana congratulated her Ponyta. "Don't worry about it, Zoro. You did good. Rest now," I murmured down at the great ball, and clipped it back onto my orange belt. I grabbed my Ecto ball and chucked the black and blue capsule out into the air, watching as my long time friend materialized. Hana blanched at the sight, and hurriedly returned to her spot away from Gem.

"Noct," I called. He turned to look at me. "Zoro lost. You're up against two Pokemon. Let's avenge him!" I said to the now solemn ghost-type.

He nodded to me, and raised his fist to his chest and turned back towards his opponent, a feral grin matching the one I had bared at Hana earlier. The pinkette stood there gaping at us. "Geez, Saya. And here I thought you would have nothing but rookie Pokemon on you! That Gengar is fucking terrifying." And proud of it.

Not wasting anymore time, I commanded, "Confuse Ray!" The blue ghost's eyes glowed a pale blue and suddenly Gem was thrashing around, kicking her back hooves up at nothing.

"Gem! Gem, snap out of it!" The other girl cried, trying to control her horse.

I knew how to win. The poison was still chipping away at her health and was already weak from Zoro's last attack. "Noct, Sucker Punch!"

He flew at amazing speeds towards the confused and poisoned fire-type, dove low to the ground to sucker punch the wounded belly of the horse. The force of the blow blew the Ponyta onto it's side and it was still. I grinned in relief at how easily the weakened Pokemon fainted. Nocturne will still be at full health for Hana's final Pokemon.

Gem was formed into white matter and zipped back into her Premium ball. The girl then held up a Safari ball. "Alright, you beat my Ponyta, but I'll tell you right now, you have no chance against this one. You're Gengar may _look_ scary and tough, but this guy is tough and _savage."_ With that, she tossed the ball out and, to my amusement, a Dratini formed.

"Duuu-RAHH!" The Dratini then roared as much as it's small lungs could allow. I couldn't help it, I laughed.

Hana scowled. "Hey! Don't laugh at us!"

"I'm s-sorry!" I giggled. "Do you know cute that is?! It's like he thinks he's a Charizard or something!" My opponents both narrowed their eyes in fury.

"Thunder Wave! Go!"

Dratini uncoiled and electricity shot from the tiny grey spot between it's eyes. Noct and I were broken out of our giggles; the blue ghost-type was wrapped in a thread of electricity and suddenly couldn't move.

"Damn!" I gasped, suddenly ashamed that I had lost focus in the middle of a battle. "Fight it! Try a Shadow Claw!" My Gengar fought and fought but just couldn't move. Dratini took on a look of cockiness and slithered forward. Slowly, mockingly, maddeningly. I clenched my teeth and fists and so did Noct.

The little dragon was waiting for his master's next command. Said master looked as smug as her Pokemon. "Dragon Rage," she practically laughed out. Dratini's little mouth opened at the same time Noct broke free of the T-Wave. He lashed out with a Lick attack, the big, wet tongue catching the dragon off guard and causing it to freeze as well.

"Payback's a bitch!" I hooted in joy. Noct did as well and followed up his assault with the earlier commanded Shadow Claw. The plasma claws slashed across the snake-like belly of the little dragon and sent it flying back.

I clenched my hands into fists, triumphantly this time, and glared at my opponent like a hunting Pidgeot. "Why so serious? Shadow Claw again." Noct fired of bolts of Night Shade while flying towards Dratini. The little dragon couldn't evade the attack, but did make it out of the way of the Shadow Claw.

"Water Pulse!" Hana shouted in a panicky tone. Dratini spat out a high pressured water jet faster than Noct could react. It hit him on the side of the head and slammed his skull flat on the ground. He stayed there, and for a moment I was scared that both of my Pokemon were going to be taken down to head injuries, before he phased straight into the ground. I let out a sigh of relief, while the pinkette let out a curse.

"Shit! Naydra, use Extremespeed to make sure it can't hit you!" He did just that, and was a blur to my eyes. But that won't stop us.

"Stop it with Confuse Ray!"

Suddenly glowing eyes appeared out of nowhere about eight feet off the ground and the now dubbed Naydra moaned and came to a stop, curling in on itself.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Twister!"

A blue tornado shot towards us and a bolt of lighting raced towards the dragon. The twister was too fast for Noct to dodge so he threw up his arms to block what he could. "Gennggg!" He cried through clenched teeth. Naydra had slithered out of the way enough to only be grazed by the bolt, and started to release another Twister. As soon as it was about to direct it at the preoccupied Gengar, he suddenly shifted direction and got hit with his own attack instead.

"Tiiiiii!" The little dragon cried, and then suddenly fell limp on the ground.

I blinked, wondering what happened, when I suddenly realized. It attacked itself in confusion...

I grinned in relief and triumph. We had won.

Hana came to the same conclusion and returned her Dratini with a sad look. "I...I can't believe you beat me..." she said in disbelief. Suddenly she sighed and headed towards me. I had already joined Nocturne on the field and was checking his injuries over, congratulating him. I looked up when she stopped in front of me. She looked sheepishly towards the ground and then back at me, not making eye contact.

"Look, I'm...I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have dissed you back at the Center. You battled pretty good for a beginner, although it's hard to believe you're a rookie with a fully-evolved Pokemon..." she trailed off and looked at me questioningly.

I coughed awkwardly and gave a half-smile. "Yeah, I've only been on the road for a few days. Noct is fully-evolved, but until I left home he hadn't really ever battled outside of the classroom." I explained and patted the ghost on the head. "And I had only caught Zoro the other day on the way here. He was a lucky find." I added, feeling a lot better about the girl after we hashed it out in battle.

"Wow, that's actually amazing." Hana replied with raised pink eyebrows.

Now it was my time to be sheepish. "Thanks...look, I'm sorry for how rude I acted too. And you're right, I probably _will_ lose eventually. One day I'm gonna come across a more seasoned trainer and they're gonna trash me. It's life, and I shouldn't have sounded so arrogant about it. That's more _his_ job," I jabbed my thumb in Noct's direction and he stuck his tongue out at me. "Geng!" He cried out, and then giggled. I rolled my eyes and my friend.

Hana laughed, and I was surprised at the sound, having not heard it from her yet. "Yeah, I can tell."

I smiled at the other girl and pulled out my Ecto ball and returned Noct. "Why don't we head back to see your mom and heal our Pokemon back up?"

Hana nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. My cousin is coming to switch places with her soon, so how about you join us for dinner? You're probably as hungry as I am, right?"

As if on cue, my stomach let out a loud growl. I blushed and slapped my hands over it in reprimand. Hana laughed again. "I thought so!" she crowed. "Let's go, Saya!" She then looped her arm through mine and half pulled me with her. I pondered while laughing with the girl, if this was what it was like having a female friend?

 **999**

 **June 26th, 10:16 PM, the spare bedroom in the Joy's home in Fuchsia.**

 **999**

Dinner at the Joy's turned out to be quite an amusing and eye opening experience. Hana didn't just live with her mom, but also with her father, brother, and two sisters. It was interesting to see just how weird genetics were. All around the dining table were varying shades of pink and red hair. My own bright blonde hair stood out rather glaringly in the group of pinkettes.

All three girls ranged from age 7 to 16, Hana being the oldest at sixteen. They all also bore the uncanny resemblance to their mother, like all Joy women did, the only difference being their eye color and the reddish hue the youngest girl had. Hana's older brother on the other hand had his mothers pea green eyes, but his father's features. He had short cut dark red hair and wore rectangular glasses, like his father.

Noct and Zoro were out of their pokeballs with the Joy's Pokemon in the next room, eating their own meal of nutritious Pokemon food. I caught a glimpse of a Chansey and a Meowth, the cat Pokemon fighting over food with little Naydra.

We talked about our earlier battle, causing Hana's siblings to tease her for losing. ("And here I thought nothing could take that evil little Dratini down!") Their mother Lisa scolded us for fighting to solve our problems, but then kindly gave us some pointers about the weak spots and vulnerable area's on our Pokemon to better prepare us in the future. I was especially grateful to learn more of Zoro's biology and the reason he lost his fight.

"The Nido family all keep most of their poison flowing through their heads, so they can eject their attack faster in defense. Too many powerful blows to the head can seriously disorient them. This happens because poison gets knocked off course of its regular flow and runs into their eye ducts, ear canals and nostrils. They are immune to the poison, but it still obstructs their senses." Mrs. Joy explained.

I listened in rapt attention and thanked her for the lesson. Evasion training was going to be one of Zoro's top drills from now on to try to avoid head injuries in the future. I was temporarily distracted from my training plans when Hana started talking to me about her starter Pokemon's name origin, which happened to be a reference to one of her favorite game series. I loved video games, and we finished up our dinner top conversation around the RPG.

After dinner we decided to turn into the night fairly early, since Hana wanted to train with me in the morning and go with me to challenge the gym. She was still unsure heading out on her journey right now, but getting a badge under her belt would be a good start to see if she was ready to set out to challenge Lance.

She also offered to show me around the Safari Zone before I leave town, but warned me that it was a lot more difficult to catch the rare Pokemon than people say. She mentioned that on one of her fishing trips there she had seen veteran trainers have a lot of trouble taking down a wild Kangaskhan or even manage to find a Chansey or Dragonair.

I took a nice warm shower and changed into my sleeping clothes and set up my sleeping bag on Hana's bedroom floor. I let Noct out of his pokeball and resolved to let Zoro out for some freedom as well next time when there was more room when we were on our own again.

I lay still on my back with Noct using my thigh as a headrest, and stared at the ceiling with excitement flowing through my mind. My thoughts were interrupted by my Pokedex beeping next to me, the little LED light at the top flashing blue, showing that I had an instant message. I grabbed it and flipped open the front case and blinked at the sudden light glaring in my face when the screen was uncovered. I tapped the message app open and chuckled when I saw the message.

 **Yo! How's your journey so far? Make it to Fuchsia yet? I'm in Celadon hotel for the night. Def can't stay another tho, $$$. -Daisuke**

I rolled my eyes at my brother. Of _course_ he would drop a lot of his money just for ONE NIGHT in a fancy hotel! I grinned and quickly tapped out a reply.

 **Hey! It's good! I caught a pretty cool PKMN! Yep, made a friend and staying at her house 2nite. I would have spent $ at the mart and just went to PC for cheap!-Saya**

I quickly sent out one last goodnight message before putting my 'dex back down for the night, not wanting to wake up Hana or Noct with the light or noise.

Tomorrow, I would finally challenge my first gym and can start working through the rest of the league. I forced my eyes closed, and tried to temper down my excitement so I could drift off into a much needed sleep.

 **999**

 **Current team status:**

 **Nocturne (Gengar) Lvl 27**

 **Zoro (Nidorino) Lvl 23**

 **You catch that video game reference? If you did, leave a review, if not, I'll let you know next chapter.**

 **My Kanto 'dexes are going to work and look like smartphones, but it's going to be a bit more limited on things to do. Only apps that common Pokedexes have are Call, IMS, Pokemon Index and Encyclopedia, Kanto Region Map, with towns, routes, caves and capes, and islands. Anything else can be registered with a picture.**

 **For example, if a trainer finds a cave worth visiting or a building out of town that is a good battle spot, if it's not registered in the map, someone can take a picture and upload it to the Kanto server which will be handled by Prof. Oak's internet staff, they'll review it and research it and add it to the map if they deem it reasonable.**

 **Right now, nothing has been added that's new to the original game Kanto map, but if there IS something new later, that'll be because of this.**

 **Also, in case it hasn't been mentioned already, I'm making the starting age for traveling trainers sixteen, and it's eighteen if you didn't go to Trainer's school for early registration at graduation.**

 **My setting chapter didn't upload right, so Nocturne the Gengar is shiny, something Saya found and befriended at 5 when she was adopted by the Ogura's. I'll try to reupload it onto chapter 1 later. It kinda goes through some backstory.**


	3. The First of Many

**Wanna point out that Saya WON'T always win. Defeat** ** _will_** **happen. Saya and Daisuke have an edge cause they both have good Pokemon to start out with, but without battle experience that only gets you so far.**

 **On that note, I'm taking a page out of the Pokemon Origins Anime series' book, and ALL GYM BATTLES DEPEND ON YOUR EXPERIENCE/LEVEL. Like, For Fuchsia, since it's Saya's first Gym, Koga will only use two Pokemon that are at an appropriate level for her. Right now I'm planning on Misty, Brock, and Giovanni being the final gyms to challenge, so they are going to have they're most powerful challenging Pokemon ready to go. Maybe Misty will have a mighty Gyarados on her team. Brock with a team of three with Golem, Onix or Steelix, or even a Rhydon?**

 **Depending on how many badges Saya has, the harder the difficulty is. I am REALLY hoping that a future Pokemon games do this, or even a fan made game, it makes sense!**

 **Also, a little reference to the Pokemon manga here as well.**

 **That's all. Thanks.**

 **999**

I blearily rubbed at my eyes as I left Hana's room and headed towards the dining room, where several good smells were emanating. I heard the other girl behind me curse as she caught her toes on the even ground, still half asleep like me. It was seven-thirty for cryin' out loud.

"Why did we agree to wake up this early again?" She grumbled while following me to the eating table.

"Because we _both_ need training before we take on the gym today. I guess. Meh," I shrugged and practically fell into my chair. I thanked Mrs. Joy for the cups of coffee she set in front of us and I wasted no more time before digging into my food with gusto.

Mmm bacon, eggs and hash browns were the right way to start the day.

It was mostly a quiet breakfast, all the other Joy siblings were also still sleepy and not yet active yet. Hana's mother was chatting with her husband, the man smiling while he read the morning news from his tablet. I barely finished scraping up the last of my yolk when my new friend pulled me from my chair and dragged me back to her room to get ready for morning training. I called out a harried thank you to her parents before we were out the door and heading out to a local park.

"This is where I always go for some uninterrupted training," The pinkette explained, still dragging me down the street. I rolled my eyes and gently pulled my arm out of her grasp.

"I'm awake now, you don't have to pull me!" I complained with a smile to let her know I wasn't really annoyed.

"Oh, right, sorry." she replied distracted. She let out an "Aha!" and pointed towards a nice grassy field that also looked to be a baseball field. My smile widened at the sight. It really _was_ a nice place to train, especially since we were the only ones here right now.

"Ok, so there shouldn't be any games or practices here for a while, or at least till this evening. I'm probably going to go there," she pointed out at the area to the side of the baseball field, "and train Daydra and Gem. Daydra still gets way too offensive, which is good! But really, I'm going to come up with some strategies for Thunder Wave and stuff too. Gem, on the other hand, is a little angel." Hana let out a happy sigh at the mention of her obedient pony and grabbed their pokeballs off of her belt. "We're going to work on endurance and accuracy today." she finished as she released them from their capsules.

The Dratini immediately let out a "DraaAAA!" and Gem walked up to her trainer to nose at her neck in affection.

I desperately tried to stifle my giggles at the little dragon, and went about letting out my own Pokemon. My Nidorino and Gengar looked around at their surroundings before looking up at me. "Alright guys!" I exclaimed with a wide grin and a fist raised. "It's time for some some training! We're taking on the gym today, but before that, we're going to get in some evasion and speed drills, and then we're going to go have some battles for more experience! READY?!"

"GENG!"

"NIDO!"

"ALL RIGHT!"

 **999**

Over an hour later, I still had Noct and Zoro running through their drills, Noct intentionally aiming for Zoro's head with his Shadow Claws, while I commanded my Nidorino to dodge with any means possible. Techniques from parrying with his horn, to shocking his attacker with his newly learned Thunderbolt.

During this exercise, Noct's plasma gauntlet had suddenly changed shape and reformed closer to his fist, no longer donning three long sharp claws, but just a hard mass of energy surrounded his fist. We all paused, even Hana and her Pokemon a couple yards away at our sudden stillness.

"What...what is _that?"_ I whispered to no one, and quickly pulled out my pokedex and quickly scanned my ghost-type. I happily discovered that he had learned Shadow Punch. Or rather, he had always known it, it was an egg move that he was born with, but neither of us had _known_ until now. Why had we never bothered to investigate his egg moves when I got my 'dex?

He had just randomly learned a powerfull, physical ghost move.

That would come in handy later.

"Hey! Hey, Hana!" I waved over to the other girl and laughed when she and her Pokemon got closer. "Noct learned Shadow Punch!"

Her eyes widened and she joined me in laughing. "Wow, congrats, Saya! Congrats, Noct!"

Noct grinned at her and threw out his fists in some punches, obviously the most excited about the new development.

"Oh! That reminds me," I trailed off as I dug into my back pocket and dug out a yellow TM disk. "Here, this is the TM for Thunderbolt. You can use it on Daydra if you want."

Hana's eyes got wide again and she looked at me in surprise. "Woah, uh, are you sure? That's a pretty good TM..." she trailed off uncertainly, but looked at the disk with the same longing that she directed at her coffee this morning.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, of course. You're my friend, and it's not like I'm giving it to you, I'm letting you borrow it so you can have an awesome advantage! Your Dratini will be even _more_ powerful and lethal now!" I said enthusiastically.

Hearing that, Daydra jumped up and whipped the disc out of my hand in it's excitement. I laughed while Hana scolded it and tried to pry the disc out of it's mouth.

 **999**

It was almost nine by the time we called it quits, shortly after Hana wrestled my TM away from her Pokemon's mouth. Daydra was making everyone nervous with it's continued use of Thunderbolt. It shocked random flying Pokemon out of the sky, tree branches from the forestation lining the field, and just narrowly missed hitting Noct.

The ghost-type was not amused.

"That's it!" Hana threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "I'm taking this guy to the battle park and letting him earn me some money with that energy." She huffed while returning the dragon into his safari ball. "How about we head to the Pokecenter and refresh our teams up first?"

I nodded and was amused when my Pokemon did the same. Guess they were ready to try out their new moves, too. "Sounds good, let's go heal, kick some ass, then...the gym!"

We returned the rest of our Pokemon and hurried to the PC, excited to challenge some trainers. It would be my only other local battles besides Hana, so I was even _more_ hyped to see some more Pokemon.

About thirty minutes later, a rather short wait in line at the center considering Hana sneaked us up to one of her family members to take care of us, we were entering the battle park, not too many fights going on yet.

"Hmmm...Oh! Oh oh, I went to school with that kid! I'm going to go fight him! Meet up back here later, Saya? Text me!" Hana called back to me hurriedly as she jogged off towards her prey of choice. Funnily enough, it looked like the boy was trying to avoid her as soon as he caught sight of the pinkette. I smiled after her and looked around for my own fight.

"Excuse me!" I blinked at the shout and turned to see an older, wavy orange haired man walking towards me with a friendly smile.

"Hi!" I greeted back with an answering smile. "What's up?"

"I don't mean to bother you, but would you like to battle?"

I full out grinned at that. "Of course! I'd love too! My name's Saya, by the way."

He nodded and started backing up a bit. "Mine's Arty," He paused once he was situated a good distance away and pulled out a pokeball. He threw me slightly sheepish smile. "too be honest, I saw you yesterday with your shiny Gengar."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise and then immediately frown in thought. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Arty confessed, "I was hoping you would allow me to battle it, I have some new combo's that I wanna try out against a powerful ghost type if that's okay?"

I chewed on my lip and decided to go ahead and risk it. It would be a good learning experience to fight with the tables turned against me. "Sure. One on one then?"

"Sounds good, Raticate, I choose you!" Arty called out. The bulky, brown rat Pokemon appeared on the field, tail twitching as it looked for it's opponent. It's overly large front teeth clicked against it's smaller incisors as it prepared for the battle that was to come.

"Noct, let's go!" I declared, sending out my blue ghost.

Since the Raticate was a normal type, it wouldn't be able to use any normal attacks. We would just have to worry about it's dark, cunning moves-

"Use Bite!" Arty called out.

Like that.

"Rata!" Raticate declared, leaping at Noct and biting down on his arm before he could dodge. My Gengar let out a cry, his other arm flailing as he shook the rat off. He panted a bit as blood dribbled down his arm from the cut Arty's Pokemon had left.

"Just because you have a ghost, don't think it will give you an edge." Arty stated. "I'll let you know, I happen to enjoy raising Rattatas, and there's a reason why I do. They can use several different attack types. Electric, for example...I have a Raticate that would make you think he was a Pikachu in disguise. Another one I love to use against grass-types because of its Ice Beam and Blizzard attacks. This one here is my ghost breaker Raticate...he has plenty of dark moves that can take out any spooks." He smiled. "Now, those attacks might not be my Rattata's strongest, but since your Gengar is a ghost type, you lose out on your strongest attacks...just like Raticate."

"Yes and no," I replied, unfazed by the fact that with only one move Raticate had found Noct's weakness. "Noct _is_ a ghost-type, but he's also a poison-type with some other surprises of his own! Noct, use Toxic!"

"Gar!" My Gengar took a breath, and then spat out a big glob of poison that flew across the field. Raticate, seemingly in disbelief at the poisonous spit flying towards it, whined when it hit smack dab in its face, sticking to it's fur and sinking into his skin.

And just like that, badly poisoned.

Arty pointed at Noct. "Use Bite again!" The rat Pokemon snarled, leaping at the Pokemon that poisoned it and once more sinking his teeth into the same arm as before, close to the other bleeding cut.

"Now that it's close, use Thunderbolt!" I called out, inwardly worried about my old friend's health.

"Gen-" Noct grabbed a fist full of Raticate's brown fur, and leaned in closer to give a pained, venomous grin to the now wary Pokemon. Static ran across his own dark blue fur and gave a great, "GAARR!" as he lit up in bright electricity and shocked the big rat in a close range Thunderbolt.

Arty's Pokemon stumbled back, coughing as it tried to stop shaking from the aftershocks.

It won't be too long now, not with the poison and that critical hit. "Sucker Punch!"

Noct rushed the still disoriented rat and punched it in the gut, making it fly backwards towards Arty. The man stared down at his Pokemon in worry.

"Use Sucker Punch right back, Raticate!"

I gasped in alarm. I wasn't sure if Noct could take one of those right now. "Noct! Put it to sleep! Hypnosis!"

He hurriedly clapped his hands and waved them at the charging Raticate. The rat got caught in the waves, but didn't stop. Just as it swung, Noct quickly flew up and just barely missed getting punched in the legs. The rat twirled from the force of it's missed swing, panted, then fell down to the ground, out cold.

Arty sighed in dismay at the sight. "Good work, Raticate." He said, recalling his Pokemon.

I let out a small "Woo hoo!" and quickly ran towards my tired and hurt Pokemon. Noct floated back down and practically landed in my arms, a hard feet being that he was almost as big as me. I dug out my only Super Potion and quickly sprayed his arm as Arty walked over.

"Good battle, Saya." He smiled down at me and held out thirty pokedollars. "It was good training for my new Raticate, and for me. I appreciate it."

I took the money gratefully and nodded. "No problem, and yeah, it was for me too. Thanks!"

And with that, he walked away.

"Well now we know not to underestimate Rattata's and Raticates, don't we buddy?" I commented dryly to my newly healed friend.

He nodded his head gravely but then broke out into a victorious grin and gave me a thumbs up. "Gar!"

I laughed, and gave him a hug. "Yeah, we're still awesome though.

 **999**

It was time now.

Time to step into the real world. The journey here was child's play compared to this. This wasn't battle class, this wasn't the grassy routes where weak little bird and grass Pokemon picked a fight with me, and this wasn't going to be a fight between new trainers. This was a tunnel to reality, to a gym battle where that soft training would be put to the test in a hard and unforgiving place, led by a gym leader of just the same quality.

Whether I deserved to be a trainer would be decided here, at my first gym, the Fuchsia Gym.

It was now almost noon, and after challenging some trainers at the park we went back to the PC and decided it was time to take on the gym.

Hana was ahead of me, speaking to the receptionist in the small Japanese styled waiting room and I turned my head to look at my floating ghost-type. He nodded his head at me and patted me on the head.

"Gar."

I grinned gratefully at my friend and nodded back. We turned forwards again when Hana came back with a nervous smile.

"Alright, you're challenging Koga first, then I'm booked for right after. I have to wait out here while your match is going, though," Hana grumbled before continuing, "His secretary said that he should be free, so head on in!" She said with narrowed and burning eyes, her determination winning over her nervousness.

"We got this, we'll both win!" I promised with a nod and walked into the gym.

A Pokemon gym was usually nothing but an indoor arena with some grandstands to the left and right for visitors to sit and watch battles. Sometimes a back room where badges were stored. Fuchsia's gym was not so. It was designed both inside and out to look like a ninja dojo, an ancient one at that. There weren't many artificial lights in the arena, most of the light being natural from the many windows.

There were two men up ahead in the middle of the wooden floor field, one dressed up in what looked like dark purple shinobi gear with black spikey hair similar to my own and a solemn expression. The other man was dressed in an expensive looking black suit, with short, slicked back dark hair. I couldn't see much of his expression with his profile mostly turned away from me, but he just _oozed_ a commanding and powerful aura. I halted my steps for a moment, taken aback by the unexpected pressure I was feeling around him. It kind of put me on edge.

I gave Noct a look, and he immediately understood the unspoken command. He phased out of sight and sunk down into my shadow.

I approached the men and made myself known. "Hello! I'd like to challenge the gym leader to a battle."

They turned to look at me. The ninja man was the one to respond, while the other narrowed his dark crimson eyes and swept them over me. "Very well, trainer. I am the one you shall be battling. We were just finishing up our conversation anyway." He said, eyes cutting towards the other man with a pointed, and frankly, hostile look.

The other man tore his assessing eyes away from me and threw a cold, blank stare back at him. "I don't recall our meeting coming to an end..." He replied in a dry tone, underlined with annoyance.

A shiver gripped my spine as the deep, silky voice washed over me. Who is this guy? And now that I got a better look at him, he looked kind of familiar...

Suddenly he turned and signaled at something behind me. "Why don't you go wait over by the stands for a bit while the adults finish talking, girl." He suggested in a way that sounded like an order. My eyes clashed with his in fury at the audacity, and he smirked back, snapping his fingers. A second later a hand gripped my shoulder.

Startled, I turned my head and almost thought it was Hana. But no, it was a pink haired man that had come up behind me and peered down at me with a stern, blue eyed stare. Indignation bubbled up and I glared and bared my teeth in anger. "If you want to keep that hand, I suggest you let go." I ground out at the bodyguard looking dude and shook his hand off.

"And you!" I whipped back around to face the now bemused man who issued the command. "You don't have the right to tell me what to do. It's rude." I suddenly tried to school my expression into a mocking cool stare that he was sporting. "Surely, as an _adult,_ you should know proper decorum, sir." His eyes narrowed down at me, _something_ glinting in those dark orbs.

Koga was looking at me with barely concealed approval, and spoke up again. "I believe," he started and shifted his eyes back to the other man. "that this young lady here may have a point, Giovanni." he chuckled out.

Wait.

Giovanni?

Now that _really_ sounded familiar...

Giovanni let out a low hum and replied, "We'll be speaking again, old friend. I would love to have you in my employment once more."

He took a step closer towards me and towered over my 5'3 frame. "You should learn to pick your battle a bit better, little one." he murmured, eyes promising something I couldn't quite comprehend. I felt my right eye twitch in annoyance at the jab at my height. Instinctively, I stood a bit straighter and lifted my chin up in defiance, refusing to back down to the arrogant jerk.

He lifted an eyebrow at the motion and huffed out a laugh, before moving around me and walking with the bodyguard towards the door without looking back. I watched him for a moment before turning back to the ninja man.

"I am Koga. Fuchsia City gym leader, specializing in poison-types. And you are, young lady?"

I grinned and motioned for Noct to appear, hoping to make a powerful first impression. "I'm Saya from Azure Town." I saw Koga blink in surprise at my Gengar's sudden appearance behind me, slowly leaving my shadow and levitating just high enough to look over my blonde hair. "And _this_ is Nocturne."

"Amazing," he murmured, shaking his head. "I didn't even sense him." He appraised me again more shrewdly. "How many badges do you have, Saya?"

"None. I just started my journey." I answered, frowning at his look of disbelief.

"You just began your journey and you have a fully-evolved Pokemon already?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes, sir. He's fully evolved, but we only have a little bit of experience out of the classroom. We only just graduated." I explained.

Koga thought for a few seconds with a more pronounced frown. "You only just graduated, but you believe you and your Pokemon are ready to challenge gyms?" He asked evenly.

I gulped at the look he was giving me, a look I came to know from teachers when I was goofing around in class. I took a breath and gathered my earlier resolve. "We're ready."

He continued to stare at me for a few more moments before nodding. "All right then, young trainer. Go take your spot on the other side of the arena and we shall begin."

I nodded and practically ran over to my designated trainer's box and took on a ready stance. I watched as Koga walked past his box and towards a wall behind it. A small panel opened and a narrow table slid out from within. From what I could see, there were six pokeballs sitting within. He reached in and pulled out two pokeballs.

"Since this will be your first gym, I'l use these Pokemon here," he called, walking back over. "You will be allowed three Pokemon, and can substitute." He came to a stop and took his own confident stance. "Good luck, Saya."

And with that, he tossed a pokeball forward, and the zipping white matter formed a Zubat. "Zubat, Air Cutter!"

The Zubat sped forward and flapped it's little wings madly over my shiny Gengar, and he was immediately tossed to the other side of the arena. I resisted the temptation to run over to him, and instead cried, "Noct! You okay?"

The Zubat hovered and Koga tapped his foot.

Noct let out a low growling, "Geng," and opened his eyes and got back on his feet with a frown.

"Geng-GAR!"

Zubat wasn't expecting the leap. With what I'm sure was a growled insult, Noct was in the air and barely missed slicing through the bat's wing with his Shadow Claw. He was ready again. "Alright! Now use Confuse Ray!" His eyes glowed and focused on his opponent.

"Bat-bat-bat!" The Zubat fluttered around in the air even more frantically than before.

I heard Koga mutter before he commanded, "Concentrate! Bite it!"

Zubat flew in zig-zags towards the ghost-type, and Noct just _barely_ managed to evade the confused poison-type. "Hit it with another Shadow Claw while it's close!

"Bite it." Koga repeated.

It became a wild dance on the battle field, neither Pokemon landing a hit, just weaving and frantically evading. As weak as Zubats were made out to be, when properly trained, they were speedy little devils, and their sharp fangs were a danger to all, including ghost-types. As hard as he tried, Noct couldn't even graze the little bat with his plasma claws, and the risk he took of suffering a super effective Bite every time he missed was too much. Time to one shot the bat. "Thunderbolt, hurry!"

Noct quickly dropped the ghostly gauntlets and backed up while glowing with electricity and shot a powerful bolt at the Zubat before it could act on the change in battle. It fell immediately, one wingtip still smoking.

Koga looked appropriately surprised at the super effective move and returned his Pokemon. "Very good," he complimented, and I grinned in pride. He took another pokeball from his belt. No, a great ball.

"Let's see how you do with this one." He tossed his great ball forward, and the zipping white matter formed a Nidorina.

Well.

I looked over the female counterpart of my Nidorino in interest, and noticed that it was standing on it's hind legs instead of all fours like Zoro. Suddenly, I was torn from my thoughts as Koga commanded, "Leer."

The Nidorina bowed her head, and her eyes glowed. My Gengar stiffened slightly but held his ground. I chastised myself inwardly for getting distracted in a fight. "Oh yeah? Show them what you think of that, Noct."

The ghost-type dashed forward quickly, a hand once again glowing with plasma claws.

"Poison Sting." Nidorina let out a mighty growl, and shot poisonous needles forward. Noct swerved side to side to dodge, and when he came closer towards the other Pokemon I quickly shouted, "Sucker Punch!"

Noct threw his other fist into her gut with a victorious grin, my own grin matching his when it sounded like he winded the other poison-type with that hit.

"Now! Poison Jab!" Koga snapped out.

With my Gengar finally staying stationary after his assault, Nidorina gripped the fist that punched her to trap the ghost and slammed her own into _his_ belly.

"Noct!" I cried when he staggered back from the force and fell. Just how strong was this Nidorina?

He lie still for a moment before leaping back up, grin still in place if slightly smaller. Relief washed over me. Suddenly, our earlier training from this morning flashed through my mind.

"Why so serious, Noct? Shadow Punch! Aim for the head!" I shouted, and in the next moment, my Gengar's hands were once against encased with plasma energy and he swung out at his opponent. There was a solid smack throughout the room as his fist connected with the side of her face.

"Rina! Rina! Rina!" Nidorina flailed backwards and put her paws over her bruised face, her eyes already looking disoriented. She didn't hear Koga's orders, and was unprepared for the extra Night Shade that shot into her already tender belly. With a shriek, the Nidorina dropped to the ground.

I blinked, once, twice, before if finally sunk in that we had _won._ A huge grin tore across my face and I dashed over to Noct, just barely stopping myself from shouting in joy as I squeezed him into a hug. _We did it!_

Koga looked astounded as he recalled his Pokemon back to it's ball. "Those were some impressive combo's for a beginner trainer." he said as he walked forward with a hand reaching into his shirt pocket. I returned Noct just before he reached me.

"Thank you, sir. I'll be honest when I say that a recent biology lesson on the Nido family came in handy at the end there." I confided with a small shrug. At his inquisitive look, I decided to go ahead and tell him since he too had a Nido. "Nido's are more sensitive to blows to the head since their poison sacs are stored there. I learned that the hard way, too. If you wanna save Nidorina a headache in the future, be careful of that." I smiled up at the man, still riding high on my win.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at me with respect. "I'll take your advice to heart, young lady. Thank you," he chuckled and held out a pink, heart shaped object for me to take. "Here is the Soul badge. Congratulations on winning your first badge."

I full out grinned and thanked him while putting my first badge into my badge case.

Koga then handed me something else, a small paper card. I accepted it curiously. "Give that to the receptionist before you leave, and she'll exchange it for the proper amount of award money for your victory as well."

I blinked and smiled in joy at the extra prize.

Suddenly he bowed to me. "I admit that I am curious to how strong you will grow, young one. Perhaps I will hear of you someday the news of your accomplishments."

I blinked and rubbed the back of my head, feeling elated and embarrassed from hearing a pro tell me this. "Thanks, Koga. I'll see you again someday!" And with that, I gave him an awkward little bow back, and then immediately felt stupid, and waved while I made my way towards the exit. I heard his faint chuckles the whole way.

Just as I was about to reach the doors out, a large hand grabbed my forearm and gently turned me back around. My blue eyes widened at the sight of the man from earlier, Giovanni. Once I was facing him, he dropped his hand immediately and put it in his pocket.

"That was a pretty interesting battle," he commented, his lips upturned in a small smile.

Huh, he must of stayed to watch the match. I looked up at him warily, remembering my earlier feelings towards the older man. "Thank you..." I said, still unsure about him staying back to talk to me. He didn't seem so friendly before.

He noticed my hesitance and let out a short sigh. "I would like to...apologize...for my rudeness earlier. I was only frustrated with my friend, and did not mean to take it out on you. Your name is Saya, yes?"

Maybe I had misjudged this man. I expected him to be arrogant and cold, someone who would not admit to being wrong or being too high and mighty to even _believe_ that he's in the wrong. But to take time out of his day to apologize to a stranger kind of threw me, but for some reason, it also filled me with a small flame of joy.

"Yes," I answered, and then smiled at him. "My name is Saya. _Your_ name is Giovanni, right?"

He paused for a moment, staring down at me as if in a trance, before flashing me a wolfish smirk. "It is," he confirmed, and stood a bit straighter. "So you've heard of me, have you dear?" He asked in a haughty tone.

I tilted my head in confusion. "Um, yeah, earlier when Koga said it..." He took on a equally confused look as well, before sagging slightly in understanding.

"Ah, so you _haven't_ heard of me," He tilted his head at me and seemed to ponder something.

I swallowed nervously, wondering if I had already offended him after just making nice. Was he someone important? Is _that_ why he looked familiar?

The question was on the tip of my tongue when he said, "Well, Saya," and stuck out his hand in an offer to shake mine. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He purred out, his voice slightly deeper than before. I felt my face flush. God, what _was_ it about this man's voice that made me blush?

"Y-yeah, It's nice to meet you too, Giovanni." I said with a forced grin, and desperately tried to hide how breathy my voice was, and gripped his hand. Giovanni surprised me once again, when instead of shaking my hand, he slowly brought it up to his face and pressed his lips against the back of it. My cerulean orbs flew to his crimson, and I just _knew_ my cheeks were lighting up the room now. His smirk grew against my skin, and his eyes held an accomplished gleam.

"So," Giovanni started, sounding a little smug. "how long have you been a trainer, my dear?"

"Uh," Very smooth. "I only just started, actually. This was my first gym."

The man raised an eyebrow at that, and looked like he didn't believe me...just like everybody else on the planet apparently. "Really? That's interesting," he said in a quieter voice, looking at me calculatingly. I was pleased to see that he really _did_ look like that interested him, and was not just saying that to humor me. The more I looked at Giovanni, with his suave smile and his intense, crimson eyes, and his aristocratic features, I couldn't get over how handsome and charismatic he was, even if he looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

"It's a pretty good start with a fully evolved ghost Pokemon. Was he a gift?" The older man inquired.

I smiled at his genuine curiosity. "Actually, I met Nocturne when he was just a Ghastly when I was really little. He was alone and sad because all the other local Ghastly teased him because he was blue." I smiled sadly at the memory. Even Pokemon children could be cruel, something I knew well. "I felt the same way about being different back then so we talked and became fast friends. He ended up coming home with me."

Giovanni tilted his head at me, red eyes assessing. "You weren't scared? Most little girls would run from ghost Pokemon, for good reason too. Most wild ghosts enjoy causing grief or love playing tricks on their prey."

I nodded in agreement. "I know, I lucked out with Noct, and my foster mother really yelled at me when I got home. I had to fight tooth and nail just to keep Noct with me. The only reason she agreed was because he was one of my first friends besides her son. And he was a well behaved Ghastly." I giggled.

Giovanni opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted. "Sir, pardon me, sir. You have a twelve-thirty meeting soon, we should head over to the harbor." It was the pink haired bodyguard guy from before, and he swept his eyes over me in suspicion, as if I was causing trouble. I narrowed my eyes at him in annoyance.

I almost missed Giovanni do the same. He sighed and nodded. "Right, I'll be right there."

He turned back to me and gave me a regretful smile. "I would love to chat more with you, little one, but it seems our time is up for now."

My eyes stayed locked with his and I felt sadness well up in my chest. I was actually really sad to stop talking with this man. I didn't even get to learn anything about him! He just wanted to talk about me...oh!

"I know!"

I caused Giovanni to paused mid turn, and he looked back at me curiously, I gave him one of my biggest, adorable smiles that got me out of detentions and groundings. It was seeming to have the same effect on him already, and I had even asked him yet! "Would you like to exchange 'dex codes? That way we could chat again sometime, or even meet up again!"

He stared at me. Shit, did I sound too eager? Maybe he doesn't actually want to be my friend...

He gave me a crooked smile, softer than all of his previous ones. "That sounds lovely, Saya. Here," He pulled his 'dex out of his pocket and I quickly did the same, and took his sleek black and red pokedex and excitedly programmed my code in and hesitated on my contact info for a moment before quickly typing the little extra with my name before I could change my mind. I shut his front case closed again and handed it back.

"Thank you, Saya. I'll make sure to talk to you again soon." Giovanni handed my own 'dex back and scooped up my other hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it again. "Ciao."

And with that, he and the pinkette were off towards the doors, with me still staring after him dumbly. I really wish I could have learned more about him...

His bodyguard slid open the doors and almost collided with my own pinkette. Hana paused at the sight of one of her relatives, and then forgot about him completely when she spotted Giovanni.

"Excuse us," the bodyguard said as he swept passed a gaping Hana with Giovanni right behind him. They didn't look back as they made their way out of the gym.

Hana turned to me slowly with wide eyes, still looking a little dumbstruck. She finally registered that she was looking at her friend and rushed over to me with a blushing, elated face. " _Oh my god,_ Saya! That was Giovanni! I can't _believe_ he was here! Oh my god, I should have gotten an autograph!"

I frowned and looked at her confused. "You know him?"

She looked at me as if I stated he was Lance himself. "Of course! Who doesn't know Giovanni Rocketto! He's the strongest gym leader in Kanto, and owns a lot of huge corporations all over the world!"

Rocketto.

 _Giovanni_ Rocketto.

THAT'S where I've seen him before, on TV!

Oh. My. God. Now some of the things he said makes sense. I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment, much to Hana's confusion. I just exchanged 'dex codes with freaking Giovanni Rocketto. I didn't know if I wanted to sink into the floor with mortification or burst into a million pieces from the fluttering in my stomach.

 **999**

 **Noct (Gengar) - Lvl 29**

 **Zoro (Nidorino) - Lvl 24**

 **Hope you liked it. I'm having fun with this.**


End file.
